Council delays King George rental tower renewal project

A proposal to revitalize an existing rental tower and create 63 new rental units at King George Blvd & 98th Avenue was stalled by Surrey’s new Council on Monday, after being denied 1st & 2nd readings for not looking satisfactory enough, in Council’s opinion. The application, which is proposing to convert an existing 3-storey commercial building on site to rental residential, and upgrade the exterior of the 18-storey tower behind it, was sent back to staff to work with the applicant on unspecified revisions.

Designed in partnership with MCM Architects and PWL Landscape Architects, the project would bring a welcome facelift to the existing buildings on site, originally completed in 1982, as well as improve the surrounding streetscape. Aside from aesthetic upgrades, the primary objective of the project is to create 63 new rental units on site through the conversion of the existing 3-storey commercial building along King George Blvd. Details of the proposed upgrades include:

Modernization and conversion of the existing low-rise commercial building to rental residential. Exterior cladding to be replaced with new materials consisting of high quality white fibre cement panels, and charcoal seam metal cladding.

Landscaping along King George Blvd enhanced and modified to suit residential use and layout

New plaza at the north-east corner of the site to help activate the streetscape along King George Blvd

Proposed exterior upgrades and residential conversion along King George BlvdElevation of proposal looking north along King George Blvd

Despite the high quality materials proposed, and thoughtfully designed plan which works within the given site constraints, Council was of the opinion that the design was not suitable enough to be allowed to proceed. Without giving any specific recommendations on how to improve the design, the project was sent back to staff to work with the applicant on revisions to the plan, despite staff already working closely with the design team to date. The building’s modernization, and the delivery of new rental units to City Centre is now delayed pending unclear revisions, until the project can return to Council for consideration once again.

The conversion is supported by Surrey Staff as the existing commercial building has long suffered from poor vacancy rates and high tenant turn-over due to physical attributes of the building, and its poor integration with the neighbourhood. The proposed residential use is seen as appropriate for this location, being across from a SkyTrain station and the developing context of the area.

Everything that the old council has work on is being put a side. Very sad what this new mayor is doing it’s going to set Surrey back another 4 years until he is gone. Just because of how much he disliked Diana ( sore looser ) can’t wait till he’s gone.

I think the redesign is a step in the right direction, but I do agree it can be marginally improved beyond what we have (it looks a bit sterile and they can hide the mechanical rooftop optics with some nice crown treatment). I think where the Council is being unfair is where they do not indicate where the design can be improved. It’s almost like they are purposely posturing against this developer since McCallum has already indicated all developers had too much influence in Surrey these last few years.